(Bloomberg) Armenia and Azerbaijan officials will hold talks in Berlin this week aimed at finding a solution to their conflict over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.Most Read from BloombergApple Cancels Work on Electric Car, Ending Decadelong EffortA Spike in Heart Disease Deaths Since Covid Is Puzzling ScientistsOffice Tower Deal for $1 Reveals Anxiety Among Longtime BuyersNigeria Delivers Jumbo Rate Hike to Aid Its Battered NairaBYD’s New $233,450 EV Supercar to Rival Ferrari, LamborghiniT
Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday traded accusations over a border skirmish that left at least four Armenian soldiers dead and escalated tensions between the two Caucasus neighbors. Armenia's Foreign Ministry denounced what it described as a “provocation” by Azerbaijani troops who fired on Armenian forces across the border in the eastern Syunik region early Tuesday. Four Armenian soldiers were killed and one was wounded, the ministry said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday said Armenia was ready to sign a peace deal with Azerbaijan by the end of the year, and would guarantee the safety of all Azerbaijani citizens on its territory, Russia's TASS news agency reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week said he believed a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan was achievable if both sides showed goodwill, playing down the difficulty of reaching an agreement on their shared border. Azerbaijan last month mounted a lightning offensive to seize control of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been governed by ethnic Armenians with Armenia's support for three decades.